How the Northern Catholics who supported Britain's Great War and who made a great
'blood sacrifice' for it found themselves victims of a Great Fraud. And how they not only
got Partition but much, much worse – they got 'Northern Ireland'.
Author: Dr Pat Walsh
Chair: Mark Langhammer
Athol Books

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Balfour:
“We are probably fools not to find a reason for declaring war on Germany before she builds too many ships and takes away our trade.”White:
“You are a very high-minded man in private life. How can you possibly contemplate anything so politically immoral as provoking a war against a harmless nation which has as good a right to a navy as you have? If you wish to compete with German trade, work harder.”Balfour:
“That would mean lowering our standard of living. Perhaps it would be simpler for us to have a war.”White:
“I am shocked that you of all men should enunciate such principles.”Balfour:
“Is it a question of right or wrong? Maybe it is just a question of keeping our supremacy.”

Source:
Thirty Years Of American Diplomacy, by Henry White and Allan Nevins, 1930.)

The truth is always more complex and nuanced than some people would want us o believe, and that is very much true in the case of the 1914-18 war. I have read extensively on the topic and definitely come down on the side of all parties sharing the blame. Balfour's comments betray a certain attitude; however, there is no point in attributing too much weight to his words.
The origins of the war are too complex to reduce to Britain's warmongering. It is my belief that the conditions for war had origimated with Wilhelm 2 getting rid of Bismarck and the colonial competition that developed in the late 19th century, combined with the decline of the Ottoman empire; the stresses in Austria/Hungary; the rise of pan-Serbian nationalism, the naval race between Britain and Germany, the triple entente(Russia, Britain, France), the commitment to protect Belgium; the fear of a powerful Russia......................... I could go on.
Simple answers serve a simple mentality. Britain has blood on its hand; however, it is in very good company.